A Study In Emerald

"A Study in Emerald" is a short story by Neil Gaiman, first published in the anthology Shadows Over Baker Street, a collection of short stories crossing the Canon with the Mythos. It received the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, placing it next to more famous works such as "Flowers for Algernon" and "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream", and is available from the author's own website, quite legally, here.

The crossover elements themselves, consisting mostly of a historical-fantastical divergence, are somewhat muted: with only minor changes in motive and murderer, the detective-mystery of the story could almost have been set in the Canon itself — despite the frequent allusions to "A Study in Scarlet", it reminds me as much of "A Scandal in Bohemia". (On the other hand, the all-too-common allusion to the OTL as an ATL's ATL, inserted later on, is clichéd and disappointing, feeling (as it always does) as though the author is attempting to be clever and subtle with a sledgehammer.)

Another minor nit — and a common mistake in non-Canonical works — is that Holmes appears to undergo perhaps more changes than the story itself warrants: in the Canon, Holmes is stated outright to have no astronomical knowledge whatsoever, whereas in "Emerald" he is alluded to have suggested the basis of Einstein's theory of relativity, following up on a certain paper concerning the Dynamics of an Asteroid. (But then, perhaps he would consider knowledge of astronomy more important to his work in a universe where the stars have been right.)

My gripes aside (those who can, do; those who can't, criticize), it's an excellent story, easily 1 out of 1, and certainly didn't win a Hugo for being cute. ...well, okay, maybe it did, but it still deserved it.